8.01.2009

Hello Out There..... (echo... echo....?)

It's been a year and a half since I've been on this blog; I'm amazed I remembered the password! I'm here to say that yes, I am coming back to Vespa Vagabond. ((I just don't know when.)) My ride across the continent was too spectacular and too special to simply leave this blog and this story half-told.

But I can't dive into it right now. Writing memoir, at least for me, demands that I go back completely to the time and relive it - every detail, every smell, every feeling - I have to see it and feel it in order to write it. I become fully immersed to the point of probably seeming crazy and the past is more real than the present. I don't know how other writers work, but this is the only way I know how.

While writing The Daily Coyote, I split my time between working with Charlie, and going into the past and writing. I did nothing else. I did not cook, I did not see my friends, I rarely showered. I lived and breathed my first year with Charlie in order to write the book, breaking only to spend time with Charlie.

And while I loved living that way for the time that I did - it was surreal and dreamlike and so utterly romantic - I am not ready to go back into that space quite yet. I want to live in the present. I want to do things, notice what's around me, create with my hands, have adventures with my animals and the people I love.

And with the way I work, I can't do all those things and write about the past (Vespa Vagabond) at the same time. I have no idea if I'm explaining myself very well, but the point is, I love Vespa Vagabond. I will return to it. Sorry I can't give you a timeframe.

39 comments:

YAY! I am sure I don't speak just for myself when I say that I am just thrilled to know that there is more someday! I never deleted VV from my RSS for just this reason :) Thank you so much for sharing your inspirational and motivational life with us!

I know how hard it is to take up a memoir after an hiatus. There are quite a few stories I've abandoned due to loss of memory cohesion. I hope you can come back to this one. The least I can do is add to the assurances that you still have an audience.

Something nudged me to check Vespa Vagabond tonight just before turning my computer off ... this was totally out of the blue after being away so many months. Now I can go to bed happy.Thanks. Welcome back.

I'm just starting to read the archives and was really excited to see a new post on my RSS feed. Anyway, I can be patient, especially since there are all these archives for me to read. :) I'm glad to hear you plan to keep writing someday.

Just bumped into your book the other day. Thought I'd check out your adventures on the website. I am envious of your journey and wish I had the patience to write down mine. For now I will enjoy your writings. Thanks for sharing.

Just found your blogs and I love them.I am reading your book The Daily Coyote and am thoroughly enjoying it. Perhaps some day you will be inspired to write one titled "Vespa Vagabond".I look forward to reading all your posts old and new.Thanks sp very much for sharing.Maddy

hello! i stumbled upon your blog and i had a heartattack! we are a community of travelers/artists at vagabondbond dot com and love the content of your blog. amazing!!! wyoming! how gorgeous! i'd love to keep in touch with you in case we start featuring vagabonds on the vagabond site (how random that our logo is a VESPA!!!???). blessings to you!

I am so glad you are back... or plan to be, anyway.A friend sent me your book "The Daily Coyote", with just a note: read it.So I did, and I am so inspired by what you write....It makes me want to write a blog too... if I can ever master the English language (my second language) or get back into my native Italian....Who knows... in the meantime I'll be looking for more of your posts.Thank you,

Well, I'm still watching! Or actually my RSS reader is doing that for me :) I'd love to see and read more about your trip! Your photos sort of remind me of (a better, more impressive version of) my California roadtrip, which was obviously way shorter and less courageous than yours. Reading Vespa Vagabond makes me want to do that again, but better.

Hi Shreve,Many congratulations on your Daily Coyote book; I am an editor who "discovered" your blog too late to see if my company could publish your book. If you are looking for a publisher for your Vespa book, I would love to take a look. We have had a lot of success helping to launch the careers of several bloggers turned authors. We have had many NY Times bestsellers as well as books that have helped millions of people as well as the planet. You can check out our web site if you like: www.hcibooks.com. Best of luck with your writing.Allison JanseHCI Books

I just learned about your blog, and already I can't wait to read more about your experiences across the country! In such a short time (i.e., a day), you've inspired me to take advantage of out-of-the-ordinary opportunities that arise. I just recently finished grad school and moved on to a "big-girl" job (that luckily includes travel). Reading your posts have only cemented in me my desire to not get stuck in the rut of the working stiff.

I was somehow under the impression that Vespa Vagabond was a book you wrote. Imagine my frustration as I searched relentlessly at Barnes & Noble...to no avail. Assuming you actually have the time (now that you have added yet another blog to your daily goings-on)...I think it would make a wonderful book! Just a thought

Wow, and the vespa didn't break down going through all the cornfields throughout central US?? I've been across the middle and top of the US, and man, it has much more of an eclectic terrain then I thought (though I still think my Pacific Northwest takes the cake.) Anyway, beautiful photos, and check out mine if you're interested. We could link to each other or something? I'm new to blogspot and to displaying my photography. I'm 20 and have a lot to learn

Your blog is wonderful. I absolutely relate to your having to immerse yourself in what you're writing about. It's almost as if, after you do that, words just flow onto the keys and into the eyes of others to be inspired. Keep up the good work. I look forward to hearing more.

And since you're in Wyoming, sometime you should cruise your Vespa down to Salida, Colorado to enjoy some art and rafting.

I just finished reading your "daily coyote" book & thoroughly enjoyed it and am sad that I don't look forward to going to bed as much without the book to read. I kept saying to my husband "wow, this girl is so similar to the way I think.....you even named your dog chloe, which is what I named our last dog.Anyways, just wanted to say "loved your compassion for animals, which there were more people in the world like you!!" Take care, cindy

That was me getting on the Asuran with the bad hair sleeping on the floor. I usually get after people for using skill/spells and I'll also dance occassionally on the bar. IC Boann is a bit outspoken and a little crude from spending most of her time with mercenaries of the male persuasion. If you're irrtating her, she'll tell you and she can be brutally honest about the food that may (or may not be) available that night.

About Me

After a stint in San Fran, I decided to move back to New York City; 'why not get there by Vespa,' I thought. Once I got to NYC, the country had put its spell on me, and I promptly moved to Wyoming instead. You can also find me at The Daily Coyote and Honey Rock Dawn.

Vespa Vagabond

Joy, freedom, faith.... sometimes these essentials gray out, fade, in the rush of society, normalcy, shoulds. For two months I lived outside of all that, lived fully immersed in the thrill, the ecstasy, the unknown. And it was divine. This site recounts the ride - August 1st to October 1st 2005 - and all that I thought and saw and did.